Content:

(Pa, BB, C, H, Cap, Ho, LLL, V, SS, N, AA, DD, M) Mixed pagan worldview with some moral principles promoting kindness, friendship, responsibility, and making the best of oneself, and a light redemptive scene featuring forgiveness, but there are no religious references so the viewpoint is otherwise humanist, without God, plus some light capitalistic ideals encourage an entrepreneurial spirit and contributing to worthwhile corporations and light homosexual content when a joke is made about having same-sex parents; at least 70 obscenities (including one “f” word) and 15 profanities; some comic violence in bar fight takes place with punching and men get kicked in groin; strong sexual content in a long scene taking place in a strip club that includes scantily clad women dancing on poles and giving multiple men lap dances, plus man has a live in girlfriend, men ogle women multiple times, several sexual jokes and references, and a girl comments that same-sex parents are the best; strippers dance in revealing lingerie, upper male nudity; heavy drinking at a bar with drunkenness; no smoking and someone asks if another person is high but they aren’t; and, one team cheats in a competition for getting jobs.

Summary:

THE INTERNSHIP is a comedy about two middle-aged salesmen who decide to become interns at Google. THE INTERNSHIP has some very funny, clever, and even heartfelt moments with morally uplifting lessons, but it’s marred by too much foul language and gratuitous lewd content.

Review:

THE INTERNSHIP is a comedy from director Shawn Levy (CHEAPER BY THE DOZEN, NIGHT AT THE MUSEUM, REAL STEAL). It’s a disappointing, missed opportunity because there’s way too much foul language along with a scene set in a strip club.

Vince Vaughn and Owen Wilson star as Billy and Nick, two middle aged watch salesmen and best friends. Their friendly personalities and positive attitude toward life makes them expert salesmen, but everything comes to a halt when the company they work for goes out of business. Now out of a job, the two old-school men don’t know where they belong in this new digital world. Then, Billy gets the bright idea to apply the both of them for an internship at Google.

After embarrassing themselves in a video interview session, Google surprisingly accepts them into the intern program. The Google people still believe Billy and Nick could provide beneficial talents to the program. Billy and Nick travel to Google headquarters. Predictably, they discover that they are much older than all the other interns. They are also nowhere near as technologically qualified as the younger interns.

Google’s internship program consists of a series of challenges wherein teams of interns must compete. The winning team will be rewarded with jobs at Google. So, Billy and Nick get teamed up with the interns that none of the other groups wanted, but they must still prove themselves to be valuable assets to the team. The two salesmen are hilariously out of their league, but what seems to be their biggest downfall just might help this group of outcasts become a team. Will the team be strong enough to beat its competitors?

THE INTERNSHIP has some clever, hilarious moments as Billy and Nick stick out like a sore thumb among the young geniuses. What Billy and Nick lack in knowledge, however, they more than make up for with heart and practical life lessons. Their uncompromising optimism and positive attitude encourages their young teammates to enjoy the more important things in life. They teach them that things like personal relationships and a sunrise can’t be experienced through a computer screen. As for Billy and Nick, they learn to face their fears and embrace the technological change around them. Both of them are kind and caring gentlemen, though sometimes a little ignorant. Some of these positive elements align with some moral, redemptive principles like friendship, responsibility, forgiveness, and making the best of oneself. The movie ultimately does this without any references to God or the Bible.

The most disappointing thing about THE INTERNSHIP is how it fails to be family friendly. The hilarious storyline and positive premise could have easily made this a family comedy, but it’s marred by an excessive amount of foul language. There’s also an utterly inappropriate strip club scene, which belittles any positive message the filmmakers were trying to send. Because of this, THE INTERNSHIP is excessive.

In Brief:

THE INTERNSHIP is a comedy starring Vince Vaughn and Owen Wilson as Billy and Nick, two middle-aged, technologically impaired salesmen. When they lose their long-time sales jobs, they decide to become interns at Google, hoping to land two jobs. The internship program consists of a series of challenges wherein teams of interns must compete. The winning team will be rewarded with jobs at Google. Billy and Nick get teamed up with a weak team of rejects. Together, they must learn to work as a team to have any chance at winning jobs.

THE INTERNSHIP has some hilarious, clever and heartfelt moments. Billy and Nicks positive attitude encourages their younger teammates to enjoy the more important things in life. They show them that personal relationships and a sunrise can’t be experienced through a computer screen. Some of these elements align with moral principles of friendship, responsibility, forgiveness, and making the best of oneself. However, the movie has no references to God. It’s also marred by an excessive amount of foul language and gratuitous lewd content. Because of this, THE INTERNSHIP is way too excessive.